Whatcha Reading Wednesday - King of the Neuro Verse

King of the Neuro Verse

by Idris Goodwin

What they say: For the third summer in a row, Pernell is back in the classroom, facing the same struggles that have always made school seem more like a battlefield than a place of learning. This summer is different, he’s battling to become the Cypher King, leader of the lunchroom’s impromptu rap circles. Here, the rhythm flows and the words fly, creating a space where the wittiest and most rhythmically inclined reign supreme. Here, Pernell’s ADHD gives him an edge.

But life outside the cypher isn’t as forgiving. Pernell’s English teacher has it out for him. His parents are pressuring him to see a doctor for his lack of focus. And Electra, his friend-slash-crush and the only one who truly gets him, is too busy chasing her dream internship to give him the time of day.

If Pernell doesn’t pull himself together, he won’t just lose the title of Cypher King—he’ll lose his chance to graduate high school. In a world where the systems are turned against kids like him, Pernell needs to find a way to succeed with his ADHD, rather than in spite of it.

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Whatcha Reading Wednesday - The Secret Astronomers

The Secret Astronomers

by Jessica Walker

What they say: When a recent transfer student starts keeping her diary in the oldest textbook at the Green Bank High School library, the last thing she expects is to receive a response. Thus begins a sweeping tale of unlikely friendship and long-buried secrets between two secret pen pals at a rural West Virginia high school.

Copernicus is adrift and searching for answers after the sudden death of her mother, and leaving her cosmopolitan life in San Francisco behind. Kepler is a small-town girl with straight A's and big plans to be the first person in her family to go to college, despite her family's modest means. The two girls are so different from one another but united in their goal to solve a mystery that has riddled Green Bank for decades.

Meticulously hand-drawn by debut author Jessica Walker across the pages of an actual ancient astrophsyics textbook, The Secret Astronomers is a story of friendship, family, crop circles, secret crushes, giant telescopes, life in Appalachia, and two girls discovering new ways to connect across any divide that separates them.

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